a. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure generally relates to ablation catheters. In particular, the present disclosure relates to renal denervation ablation catheters and systems including a catheter handle and a means for tracking, recording, and/or monitoring the circumferential angular history of the renal denervation ablation catheter handle. The renal denervation ablation catheters in accordance with the present disclosure are well-suited for use with a renal denervation ablation system that can track and record the circumferential angular history of the renal denervation catheter handle, and hence the circumferential angular ablation history of the catheter electrode(s) within a vessel, and use this data in combination with other known information to estimate the percent circumferential denervation of the vessel.
b. Background Art
It is known that various ablation procedures for the ablation of perivascular renal nerves have been used for the treatment of hypertension, and specifically for drug-resistant hypertension. Generally, one or more radiofrequency electrodes are introduced into the body and fed into the renal artery and used to ablate the efferent and afferent nerves that generally run the length of the artery. In some cases, a single ablation procedure may include six to ten or more ablation areas along and around the wall of the artery. Typically, the doctor performing the procedure will ablate one discreet area of the artery and then pull the ablation electrode a desired distance lengthwise about the length of the artery and also rotate the handle of the catheter to move the ablation electrode circumferentially around the artery. In some cases, the doctor may move the ablation electrode circumferentially about 45 degrees around the artery wall between ablations. By varying the ablation treatment sites lengthwise down and circumferentially around the artery wall, the overall damage to the wall can be reduced or minimized while the overall ablation of the efferent and afferent nerves can still be substantially complete and effective.
During the ablation procedure, the doctor performing the procedure generally attempts to monitor and track all of the areas of the artery wall that have previously been ablated to avoid over-treatment of any one site. This monitoring and tracking should be done both along the length of the artery as well as around the circumference of the artery wall to ensure proper ablation of the arterial nerves and the best procedural results.
Based on the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a circumferential angle tracking device for tracking and recording the rotational history of a renal denervation catheter handle, and hence a renal denervation catheter electrode(s) directed thereby, to allow for more precise and thorough ablation of a renal artery and a reduced occurrence of artery damage due to over-ablation of a single spot. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the circumferential angle tracking device is easily integrateable with both single and multiple-electrode ablation catheter systems.